![]() ![]() His vision was a new type of social contract between the American people and the federal government: the idea that if you were old and sick, or out of work, the government would have your back. Roosevelt created Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act to protect the elderly and workers his Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration put thousands of Americans to work. Perhaps most importantly, Biden seems to share Roosevelt’s belief that the federal government should be relied upon to help ordinary Americans in times of need. Roosevelt’s bout with polio gave him empathy for Americans’ suffering Biden’s loss of his wife and daughter in a 1972 car crash, followed by his son Beau’s fatal cancer in 2015, has made him a political translator of American grief. Roosevelt’s New Deal aimed to draw America out of the Great Depression through massive government programs Biden’s “Build Back Better plan” promises to put Americans to work helping the country recover from COVID-19. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once famously said that Roosevelt had a second-class intellect but a first-class temperament Biden has little of Obama’s erudition but is famous for his easy way of building connections. Roosevelt was a mediocre student and an unremarkable lawyer so was Biden. Roosevelt was called a “lightweight” by critics Biden was mocked for his frequent gaffes. But Roosevelt, more than Lincoln or even Barack Obama, may be Biden’s closest presidential parallel.īoth Biden and Roosevelt were underestimated early in their careers. Three weeks ago, he delivered a speech in Gettysburg about the importance of repairing a “house divided,” invoking Abraham Lincoln’s famous words. In the closing weeks of the race, Biden has sought to link the two major themes of his campaign-unity and healing-to the great presidents of American history.
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